OUR TOWN Opens at the Chandler, WAITRESS Heading to Northern Stage
Maybe we should all see Our Town at least once at the beginning of each decade of our lives, to remind ourselves that simple pleasures—“clocks ticking . . . and food and coffee . . . and sleeping”—are too often underrated, that according to the fictional Emily Webb, the living are unappreciative or “just blind,” and time really does fly, faster than you can imagine (this one especially resonates with me):
You know how it is; you’re twenty-one or twenty-two and you make some decisions . . .Then whissh! You’re seventy. You’ve been a lawyer for fifty years.
Edward Albee named Thornton Wilder’s Our Town “the greatest American play.” And it’s never far away. It debuted in 1938, has been performed in high schools and on professional stages too many times to count, has been turned into a film more than once, and was on Broadway as recently as last fall, 2024. A performance of Our Town is central to Ann Patchett's 2023 novel Tom Lake. Now it is playing here at home at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, Vermont.
In a previous post (click here), Director Ben Rapson noted that he recognized a synergy between Our Town and the songs of Noah Kahan, a now nationally known musical phenomenon who himself was raised in the Upper Valley small towns of Sharon VT and Hanover NH. After seeing the opening night performance this past weekend, I join in Ben’s observation. His staging of Our Town, with opening screenshots of Randolph and cast performances of three of Kahan’s works, make this production of Our Town more personal, immediate, more our town.
The Our Town that you know and love is all there in three acts: Daily Life, Love and Marriage, and Death. The set is, per usual, spare and mostly devoid of props, which means the characters cleverly mime their activities. (The classic ladders for George and Emily remain.) The tone grows more somber as the play progresses: a light touch in a day in the life, a back and forth between humor and something more cynical when it comes to the human propensity toward marriage, and of course, an Act III set mostly in a graveyard where the living and dead speak but not to each other.
This is an ensemble piece, with Rapson himself taking on the role of Stage Manager who breaks the fourth wall and narrates throughout to what appeared to be an enthusiastic hometown crowd. The performance was marred somewhat in Act One by an inability to hear some of the dialogue, particularly when actors faced each other rather than the audience. Maybe due to a bit of opening night jitters, as the actors seemed to find their footing and project more forcefully in Acts II and III.
Our Town is on stage at the Chandler through March 9. Info and tickets are here. Adjacent to the theatre is a Smithsonian-sponsored exhibition, Crossroads, exploring rural life. Go for the always excellent photography of fifth-generation Vermonter Jack Rowell and the remarkable quilts of Vermont textile artist Linda Diak.
Breathin’ in, breathin’ out. How you been? You settled down?
You feelin’right? You feelin’ proud? How are your kids? Where are they now?
—-from Northern Attitude by Gabriel Edward Simon and Noah Kahan
And, on to Waitress, the musical heading soon to Northern Stage, where I had the pleasure of attending a rehearsal of the opening scene under the direction of the Stage’s Carol Dunne, followed by a talkback with many of the cast. The scene is fast, and fun, and it’s amazing to see the tweaking with each reworked iteration. A morning in the hometown diner, just, as Dunne said, “like you’re walking into Lou’s.” Or, a cast member added, “Shyrl’s.” Previews start on March 12, play runs through April 13.
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And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.